Are Easier Heroics Better in the Long Run?

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The patch 3.3.2 includes a few amendments to Heroic Dungeons and how they’re played. Entire packs of mobs are being deleted. Bosses abilities are being shortened or being made less frequent. Fight mechanics are being made easier. In essence, Blizzard is giving us more opportunities to blow through these dungeons with little to no effort.

I’m an educator at heart. Seeing as though my life “endgame” is to be at the front of a classroom, it’s important to me that people learn the skills necessary to go through life. How to write a proper business letter, how to analyze a novel or article, or how to put your thoughts in order and present them in a proper argument.

How does this translate into WoW? Teaching players how to follow a kill order, how to manage small and large cooldowns, or how to CC a mob. Remember some of the cardinal rules of this game that we’ve all learned?

If the ground changes, get out of it. Pretty standard stuff, except for rare circumstances

We learn these the hard way. And, we have to utilize and execute what we’ve learned in the current content. Ground changes? Sounds like Rotface’s ooze pools on the ground. Spinning mobs? Marrowgar. The need to CC a mob? The mind controls in Lady Deathwhisper.

“You are not prepared!”

With the level of difficulty amongst the endgame content, more and more groups are getting frustrated with the lack of skill within the community of 80s. I equate this to meeting people in the real world that don’t demonstrate even a sliver of mastery of their native language (slang and colloquialisms are fun choices but shouldn’t be your foundation). How do you get through school without being able to speak or write properly? How do you get to start raiding without having a knowledge of the fundementals?

Take Ahn’kahet (AKA “Old Kingdom”) for example. Jedoga Shadowseeker is the boss that floats in the air, summoning an add to sacrifice. If she succeeds, she hits a temporary enrage. I remember wiping to that when people first started doing heroics. The tank had to manage a cooldown; the healer was spamming big heals. This fight demonstrated the need for DPS to turn up the heat to down the add. Even I as a healer would Smite/Lightning Bolt the add.

Now, it seems that Madame Shadowseeker only does this once. Does this just mean everyone blows all their cooldowns (Shield Wall, Survival Instincts, Frenzied Regeneration, etc) to endure her short enrage and then they’re done? The key to earning respect as a player with me is demonstrate a finesse of your skills, not be all RAWR OMG WTFBBQ DPSPWNAGE!! You can be great player and still utilize all of your classes abilities efficiently.

“Time is of the essence!”

As these Heroics are being made easier and easier, that means people will be blowing through them faster and faster. Making the value of the gear that people are getting lower and lower. Follow this math:

Average of 4 badges (+ 2 from random) = 6 badges per run.

Clearing an instance in 15 minutes means 24 emblems an hour.

A whole set of T9 costs 210 emblems.

210 emblems / 24 emblems per hour = 8.75 hours.

Even if you play 3 hours/day, you could have full tier 9 in 3 days.

Given that, do I think it’s possible to really have a grasp of how to exist in a raid setting, possibly having an aspect of the fight rest on your shoulders? I won’t say a flat-out “no”, but I’m hesitant. I learned how to play my class through dungeons and heroics. A fight like Rotface or Blood Princes is going to confuse players that haven’t had the ability to build an understanding of their class.

Consider it a slightly less horrifying version of a person who just bought their character on eBay that day. Regardless if you’re a completely new player, or just levelling an alt, I fear that we’re starting to lose the building blocks to being a good raider to the ease of too much convenience. (Sidenote: Notice I said “too much”. I’m all for crafting the game so everyone has a shot, but there is a point when it goes too far. I don’t want to go back to the days of needing to run alts through Karazhan to begin the gearing process for Black Temple.)

It’s like the economy (I know, a touchy subject). If you start pumping more gear into the game faster, it devalues what’s already out there. I guess the good thing is that people will be less freaked out by GearScore. If everyone has a high gear score, more emphasis will need to be placed on player skill. What good is a high GearScore if everyone has it?

“Lazy Sunday!”

“…WAKE UP IN THE LATE AFTERNOON!” Sorry, a little sidetracked. I love that skit.

Anyways, with Blizzard making things easier and easier, I fear they’re going too far. ICC trash is already becoming AOE-able. People are complaining about there being too much trash (yet, people complained about Trial of the Crusader not having ANY trash and being too boring). Oculus is getting even bigger rewards.

I don’t want this game to become “just go in and blow stuff up”. I like the challenge. I like the dedication. I like the workout. I like the strategy. Do I know how to create a balance with this? Of course not. If I did, I would be working for Blizzard. I just don’t want the laziest crowd in the game to win over the hearts and minds of the game designers.

Now, I enjoy the mechanic of earlier ICC wings getting easier over time, allowing less progressed guilds to see the endgame content, but the latest epidemic of clueless raiders is troublesome to me. How do you make the game more appealing to everyone, while still teaching those fundemental rules that we’ve all learned over the years?

What do you think? Do you feel heroics are being made too easy? How do you promote an understanding of class and basic fight mechanics amongst your raiders?

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About me

My name is Matticus and this is my World of Warcraft blog. Here you can read about my thoughts regarding healing as a priest. As a guild master, I also write about guild and raid related topics. The blog has expanded to include thoughts from other regular contributors. The aim of this blog is to help you grow and improve. My unending goal is to have something relevant and useful in every post. or more, you can check out my columns on WoW Insider. Visit theGuildmasters to talk shop with other GMs, raid leaders, and officers. Or if you're looking to join a guild, check out my guild Conquest.